Dallas Area Rapid Transit will begin service on its new bus network January 24, and the system has begun posting new signs to help riders plan trips.
"We're going to make sure we do talk to the business community, talk to the residents," says Dallas City Councilman Tennell Atkins. "We're going to reach out to the churches, we've got to also reach out to the shopping centers, the grocery stores, all those amenities who've got to understand where that bus stop is going to be."
Atkins says bus stops may move a block or two from where people are used to seeing them. DART says the new network will reduce travel time by focusing on major corridors.
TxDOT says the largest percentage of public transit users across Texas are using it for work. Of 274 million trips taken on public transit in Texas in 2017, 27% of users in urban areas are riding to and from work.
"Most importantly, DART's new bus system will increase the number of jobs the average resident of DART's service area can reach in one hour by 34%," says DART board member Patrick Kennedy.
DART is working to reduce a decline in ridership even as the population of its 13 member cities has grown. Kennedy says the redesigned bus network will put 74% of residents in member cities within walking distance of DART's services, an increase of 6%.
Kennedy says DART is also "focusing on transit riders working non-traditional hours."
Bus routes will run seven days a week from 5 a.m.-midnight. DART has identified 22 "core routes" that will run from 4 a.m.-1 a.m. daily.
"It's going to be important to the business community," Atkins says. "Especially the inland port, especially to Love Field. We've got people who work at Love Field whose concern is, 'If I get off at 1 o'clock, how do I get home?'"
Details about new routes are available at dartzoom.org.
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